BitTorrent Streaming Service Launched
BitTorrent Inc. has officially launched its P2P streaming service allowing content providers to save a lot of bandwidth. On the other hand, ISPs will be less happy because the bandwidth a user consumes while streaming a video will double.
BitTorrent streaming is based on the BitTorrent protocol familiar to all, with - of course - some clever modifications to make streaming possible. BitTorrent Inc. offers their streaming solutions as an alternative to http streaming that websites like YouTube use at the moment. Because P2P streaming significantly lowers the costs for the content provider, it opens up the door to higher quality streams than we are used to now.
It works like this; the user who wants to watch a stream first has to install the BitTorrent DNA application, which is also bundled with the BitTorrent mainline client. When the user plays a BitTorrent accelerated stream it will not only download data, but also upload it to other people who are watching the same stream, similar to a regular BitTorrent download.
Some people have argued that BitTorrent Inc. would use the application (DNA) to let people seed content that they never agreed on downloading, for instance, to speed up the downloads from their entertainment network or sell the bandwidth to others.
However, BitTorrent Inc. CEO Ashwin Navin refutes this rumor and told TorrentFreak: “BitTorrent DNA only accelerates content that a user clicks on. It does not anticipate user wants, or pre-load a user’s PC with content they did not explicitly ask for (via an HTTP request from a webpage). Our terms for DNA require websites to disclose to users why and how DNA improves the experience for video, software, and games with P2P acceleration.”
BitTorrent Inc announced earlier this year that they will launch an ad-supported TV-network this fall. A TV-network powered by BitTorrent’s streaming servoce will have a great advantage compared to competing services, because it saves on resources, and keeps the bandwidth bills relatively low.
ISPs will probably not be happy with P2P streams, because it will increase the bandwidth their consumers are using - so it will cost them more money. The bandwidth war is not over yet.
Previously: RIAA Misinformation Campaign Apparently Works
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20 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Sounds like a good step in the future of streaming
This is totally closed-source then?
Fuck that.
Blah blah blah, BitTorrent hasn’t been the leader in anything in years. The had to buy uTorrent to get a decend client because theirs was worthless. Other places have done this long before, BitComet lets you view movies while they’re downloading, and Solidstate has had a browser plugin that does the same thing for year. Big deal.
Doesn’t Joost already do this?
Exactly my thought Jerry! I gueess Joost uses some sort of adaptation of the fasttrack technology right?
doesn’t veoh do this also?
it’s already not new!!! this has been quite popular in China for a couple of years.
USA is now behind China in many things
Rocksoccer: go eat a bowl of rice, you tool.
[quote comment="184909"]Rocksoccer: go eat a bowl of rice, you tool.[/quote]
China…ahead?
[quote] it’s already not new!!! this has been quite popular in China for a couple of years.
USA is now behind China in many things
[/quote]
Yes, America is now behind glorious Worker’s Paradise People’s Republic of China!
Hey don’t knock China I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t order cobination fried rice from time to time. Much love to those who make my fried rice combo!
Ernesto, I guess your audience is pretty nonplussed by this news. :/ Oh well.
BT inc didn’t make the protocol what it is today, they fought piracy from the start and its a fact that these pirates made them ‘popular’.
They didn’t even care to develop a decent client!
And btw streaming is sort of stupid it takes away a lot of the advantages the protocol offers. I don’t say it won’t work but thats not what its made for.
i used bit torrent streaming while i had a video radio station active on my site…the cleint was very basic back 2 years ago but goes to show how old this is …yet another example of mis information in trying make us all think it’s a new thing….
Thing is they are going to be charging for these streams and yet it’s the users bandwidth which will be funding there services…
This is if it even works out !!! we all know that users love to leech and many set there limits on upload so low .
With so many users with a slow upload takeing far more then they can upload back the stream’s wont be stainable with out some large servers somwhere down the line..
http://www.peercast.org/
© 2002-2006 peercast.org
Shows how long ago the open source started playing with this …
So in other words, save your bandwidth and use Youtube, which is run by Google, so they can afford their costs. Right, sounds good to me.
It doesn’t matter that the technology or idea is not new. Its getting people to use it (”critical mass”) that makes the difference. Bittorrent has a chance as does Miro & Joost. PeerCast - good idea, no marketing = dead.
BitTorrent Inc is owned by the MPAA
let me try in a local dialect …
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
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